1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interlabial pad which is attached between the labia to absorb menstrual blood, and more particularly, to the structure of an interlabial pad which reliably absorbs menstrual blood which flows down along the inner walls of the labia, rapidly and in a large quantity.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, a sanitary napkin and a tampon are used generally as female sanitary products. However, there have been problems that as for the sanitary napkin used by bringing into contact with clothes, it tends to cause the leak of menstrual blood from the gap caused by poor adhesion near the ostium vaginae, while it tends to cause the foreign feeling and the discomfort as for the tampon, on the basis of the nature of its products when wearing it, and it is difficult to fix into the vagina.
Under such situation, sanitary products of the interlabial pad have attracted people as a sanitary product positioned between the sanitary napkin and the tampon in recent years.
The interlabial pad is used by inserting its portion between the labia and bringing into contact with the labia, having characteristics that it is difficult to cause the leak of menstrual blood because of higher adhesion to the body than that of the sanitary napkin and psychological resistance to wearing is lower than that of the tampon which is inserted into the vagina.
An example of interlabial pads described above, the labial sanitary pad (Patent Laid-Open No. S61-149145), shown in FIG. 2, has been proposed.
The interlabial pad 24 is used in the following state:
The anterior region of the pad 24a is positioned to the front of the body and the posterior region of the pad 24b is positioned to the rear side of the body. Then, the posterior region of the pad 24b is bent along the longitudinal proximal centerline to form a convex undulation which is inserted and supported between the labia by the pinching force of the labia themselves.
The interlabial pad 24 described above reliably absorbs menstrual blood which flows toward the front and rear of the body along the inner walls of the labia or which flows toward the right and left sides of the body along the skin.
However, the interlabial pad does not have effective performance for absorption of menstrual blood which is excreted downward from inside the labia. This is because when menstrual blood flows toward the front and rear of the body along the inner walls of the labia or flows toward the right and left sides of the body along the skin, the flow is relatively slow because of the friction of the skin and the effect of the pubic hair, in addition, the quantity of flow is small. However, when menstrual blood is excreted downward from inside the labia, with a momentary change of the wearer's posture, menstrual blood accumulated in the womb is excreted at once, flowing rapidly and in a large quantity.
Consequently, the interlabial pad described above is intended to absorb menstrual blood flowing downward from inside the labia by only the convex part formed in the posterior region of the pad, which is parallel in the direction of the flow. Therefore, if menstrual blood flows rapidly and in a large quantity, a part of the liquid can flow along the incline of the convex part without being absorbed by the pad, which causes a possibility that menstrual blood may leak out of the pad. In this case, as the interlabial pad is smaller than sanitary napkins, the resulting leak of menstrual blood is a significant problem.